A few simple ingredients and dinner is served. Chicken breast, pesto, tomatoes and pasta. I like making my own pesto but you don’t have to. You can find it at most grocery stores.
If you happen to have an abundance of basil out in the garden or on the windowsill you can never go wrong with making pesto. Actually just go buy some basil at the store or farmers market because basil pesto is delicious by itself with a cracker, some bread, pasta, chicken just about anything.
basil pesto
Equipment
- food processor
Ingredients
- 6 ounces washed and dried basil leaves, stems removed
- 4 ounces pine nuts toasted
- 6-8 cloves garlic
- 2 ounces parmesan cheese grated
- olive oil
- kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Toast the pine nuts until they are a little brown in color and let them cool a little
- in a food processor add the basil, pine nuts and garlic, pulse until combined.
- while processing add the olive oil until you get the consistency you are looking for.
- add some salt and pepper to taste. use what you need and store the rest in a sealed container in the fridge.
I really love sheet pan meals and I mostly make them in the cooler months which I am not sure why that is, there is no reason to wait. So I decided to make use of what I had on hand fresh tomatoes and garlic from the garden and basil off the back deck.
pesto chicken & pasta
Ingredients
- 4-6 pieces boneless chicken breast
- 3/4 cup basil pesto
- 1 box pasta - spaghetti or ziti
Instructions
- Line a sheet pan with some tinfoil or parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350'F
- Season each piece of chicken with salt and pepper. Using approximately 1/4 cup of basil pesto over all of the chicken. Arrange each piece of chicken on the sheet pan and bake for 20-30 minutes.
- remove from the oven and place the tomatoes around the chicken and return back into the oven until the chicken is cooked through.
- cooked pasta according to the package directions.
- once pasta is cooked and drained add some pesto to the pasta. slice some chicken and add some tomatoes to your dish of choice and add some shaved Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
